Musica Scotica Vol VIII: Robert Johnson - Gaude Maria virgo [download]

Edited by Elaine Moohan and Kenneth Elliott.

Gaude Maria virgo (SATB) is a lively, carol-like setting of the ninth Responsory at Matins for the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, set for four voices – a fifth was added later in an instrumental version (see The Complete Works of Robert Johnson, No. 28). It shows influence from the post-Josquin generation of composers with its paired voices, short phrases and especially its assured handling of structural imitation. It probably dates from the 1530s. Unlike Johnson’s settings of Dum transisset Sabbatum, the opportunity for inserting the plainsong verse is not so clearly indicated, suggesting that it was conceived along more purely musical than liturgical lines.

From Musica Scotica Vol VIII: The Complete Works of Robert Johnson, full volume available here.